


wear your silver lining close to your skin

by tidalprism



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, NHL All-Star Weekend, blink and you'll miss it allusion to The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:11:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22409851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tidalprism/pseuds/tidalprism
Summary: Nico spends the 2019 bye week with one Flyer and the 2020 bye week with another.Despite lounging on a beach for the first and working in Missouri of all god forsaken places for the second, he manages to have a lot of fun both times.
Relationships: Nico Hischier & Travis Konecny, Nico Hischier/Travis Konecny
Comments: 21
Kudos: 150





	wear your silver lining close to your skin

Travis would do almost anything for Patty so when he texts from Winnipeg, "_will u go say hi to Hischier? he doesn't know many people_" TK is absolutely happy to bounce over to the Devil’s all star representative and introduce himself. Checking on a tall Swiss man is not even the weirdest thing he’s done for Patty this _ month_. (Picking up strange looking suction cups the size of a deck of cards that some acupuncturist is supposed to vacuum onto Patty’s body takes the cake on that one. Fucking Jonathan Toews and his health recommendations.) 

Technically, Nico has known Patty longer than him but Travis is sure that _ he _ has spent more time around Patty considering the fact that they room together on the road and live in the same apartment building. But Patty has been consistently mentioning Nico since he came to Philly in a casual offhand way that belies the ease of their relationship, as smoothly as he brings up Madison or his uncle. Travis runs through what he happens to know about Nico Hischier based on what Patty has let slip in the two and a half years he’s known him and the basics from scouting reports. It’s not much. Travis knows the kid is a two way center who spends a lot of his down time playing video games and sometimes sends dank ass memes that make Patty laugh in a way that absolutely does not make Travis jealous, mostly because Patty usually turns his phone to show Travis immediately after he catches his breath. 

Nolan did _ not _ happen to mention just how long Nico’s lashes are or how sweet his chocolate brown eyes can be when they're focused your way but Travis thinks he can forgive Patty for that. It’s hard for Patty to talk about the important things sometimes. 

Despite getting no warning about just how overwhelming it feels to be the center of an earnest Nico Hischier’s gaze, Travis thinks he does a pretty good job at not tripping over his tongue while introducing himself. Faced with Patty's European friend with the gorgeous eyebrows and boy band hair, Travis is suddenly very glad his mom made him shave and dress nicely for the all star trip. 

Nico seems a little nervous, which, Travis supposes makes sense, both because of the situation they're in- new people, higher personal stakes than a usual game, lots of cameras- and because if Nolan was going to open up to anyone it would be someone he felt like he could take care of. Patty isn't into relationships where he feels like he's taking without giving.

Nico looks a little unsure while Travis blathers on about being friends with Patty, chewing on his lip while he takes in Travis’ monologue about how any friend of Patty’s is a friend of his. Travis knows he’s laying it on a little bit thick but it’s worth it because at the first sign of positive attention Nico’s face is relaxing into a smile. "_Oh, pure_," Travis thinks unintentionally when Nico's dimples pop. He's a little dazed. That same satisfied feeling he gets when Nolan laughs at something he did is creeping under his skin. Nolan's laughs are rare, which makes them all the more treasured, but Travis doesn't think that seeing Nico’s smile again and again would ever make the value lessen. 

Travis gets why Nolan texted him about this and wholeheartedly accepts the challenge to befriend Nico. 

/ 

St. Louis is trying to claim that it's the _ music city _or whatever, acting like the Blues players didn’t steal Gloria directly from a Philly sports fan that was using it. Whatever! Travis isn't _that _pressed about it, even if he does text Jake in all caps, "FUCK THE BLUES." It's still satisfying to get Jake's nearly incomprehensible agreement with plenty of emojis back in response, especially when Travis can clearly see Jordan Binnington and his creepy glass doll eyes from across the room. To keep with the All Star weekend "music theme," the players end up doing karaoke that first night after wrapping up media day. Travis thinks it's just an excuse to get super drunk but he's not going to complain if some guys want to embarrass themselves singing.

Nico meets him there after heading back to the hotel to get his passport- Travis has to feel sorry for the Europeans who don't have an ID card- for the bar. 

"Freshly 21? Oh, you're a baby," Travis coos, as if their table with the representatives from the Leafs, Islanders, Flyers, and Stars isn't made up of a majority of 22 year old players. Nico rolls his eyes and tugs his passport out of Travis' grubby grip to tuck into his pocket. It's too late though considering Travis has already committed the sweet faced picture of what must be tween Nico to memory. Those chubby cheeks!

"You're all babies," Seguin grumbles and clinks his glass with Freddie. "Now one of you go put in some song requests so the 27 year old doesn't have to be the one to get this party started." 

Mitch springs up to find something silly and sweet to perform to ease the crowd into the sanctioned activity. Barzy, after much debate, ends up whining out some Biebs to the absolute chagrin of Binnington in the corner. After sitting pretty quietly for forty-five minutes, Nico gets up and absolutely murders a Post Malone song to the shock of everyone in the place. Tyler nearly dowses Mitch in beer when he throws his hands in the air at the opening chords of _Goodbye _and Barzy chokes on the table pretzels when the Young Thug verse kicks in but Nico smoothly transitions over to do his part, too. To the dismay of the rest of the bar, their table spends the three minutes and five seconds of the song singing backup for Nico from thirty feet away. When the final lyrics wrap up, Nico primly reclaims his seat next to Travis and goes back to calmly sipping on his beer like he didn’t just blow everyone’s mind. 

“_Dude_,” Barzy stresses in the ensuing silence. Travis might dare to categorize his tone as respectful. At the very least: in awe. “That was _ sick_.”

Travis can feel Nico’s shrug and has to remember that this is the same guy who moved away from home to a new continent at 16, who casually back flipped off a roof into a pool for fun, who accompanied Nolan when he got that god awful thigh tattoo and didn't stop him. Hidden depths. 

“It’s easier to sing in a new language than speak,” Nico demurely tells the table, his accent a little looser thanks to the drink in front of him. Freddie is nodding along in agreement and usually support from the Dane would be good but Auston starts getting suspiciously excited and then the attention is on half the table trying to convince Freddie to sing some _ Ed Sheeran, please, dude, that would be so funny_. Over the sounds of the Leafs urging their goalie to get on stage with them and Freddie stonewalling Auston for once instead of the rest of the league, Travis turns to Nico to congratulate him personally. Positive reinforcement is always good and the dude seriously slayed.

“Really, bud, great job up there.” 

Nico turns his grin directly on Travis. “Thanks. It plays enough in the carpools and locker room. Lots of practice.”

“Still,” Travis insists, letting his arm drop onto Nico’s shoulders and giving him a little shake to send a message. “I don’t see a ton of other guys doing that good of a job.” 

“I guess,” Nico laughs then defers the attention away from him by asking Seggy what he’s going to perform next. 

Travis loses himself in the conversation for a while. It’s easy to sit back and relax with the media portion of the weekend done and a warm body tucked under his arm. Travis is used to maneuvering Patty where he wants him when they go out together. Nico isn't quite Patty's size but he still makes a pretty comfortable arm rest. Travis is dozing off, a little zonked from all the travel, when the familiar chords of Party In The USA radiate from the stage. He laughs then drags his arm away from Nico to pull out his phone to take a short video. 

“This is Patty and I’s song,” he jokes, thinking about the Flyers video where they asked him about this and he spent the next two months absolutely harassing Patty with it. 

“Very sweet,” Nico comments after a moment where he looks like he’s figuring out how to respond. “But not like what he usually listens to, no? Is that, uhh, what you...like?”

“Oh, bud, absolutely not.” Travis laughs at Nico's relieved look. “All of Patty's downer folk music can be hard to put up with sometimes.” His grin mirrored back on Nico’s face emboldens him to make more comments. “Like, Local Natives? Local to where? Hell? Where else is that depressing?”

Nico laughs and it feels so good to find a kindred spirit in Suffering Through Nolan Patrick's Quirks Because We Love Him. G and Provy understand to a certain extent but Patty sometimes sucks it up when he's around them to show he's "maturing" or whatever. He really lets everything hang loose around TK- grumpy complaints, annoying songs, and all. And apparently, he also shows this side of himself around Nico, too. 

“Mt. Joy has joy in the title but all the songs are sad?" Nico sounds genuinely confused. "What’s up with that?”

“It’s all just, slow? Lots of guitars and questions.”

“‘When are you going to leave me?’ ‘Leave the light on.’ So many lyrics about leaving!"

“That one song? About the wasp? I don’t get half the words in it but it makes me sad anyway.”

Nico is laughing so hard he almost spits his beer out and Travis feels pretty satisfied about that. It feels good to be able to relate to someone about something so specific to their shared friend. Nico gives Travis his private Spotify account so he can link the secret “transition to happiness” playlist he made of songs that get progressively more upbeat that he swears works to drag Patty out of a funk without alerting him that that is what the tracks are doing. TK also takes his number and promises to text Nico a warning if Patty seems to be descending into a new obsession with a band so that Nico can mentally prepare himself for an incoming wave of different sad boy songs.

Sitting in St. Louis when he could be on a beach somewhere had the potential to suck but instead he’s surrounded by friends- new and old- sharing stories about one of his favorite boys. It’s nice to have confirmation that Nolan has other people in his life besides family and team who are there for him. Friends who won’t put up with his sulks without some gentle mocking but will defend him to the death when it matters. It’s a good night all around.  
  
/  
  
Despite the late night, Travis doesn't fall down during his lap which is really all he cares about. It's nice that there were zero expectations for him to win and even nicer when someone without any expectations to win _ does _ end up beating McDavid. He yells in Barzy's face a little, cellying like they did on Team Canada and then just like that his event is over and he can spend the rest of the night straight chilling. He splits his time pretty evenly between feeling mature introducing himself to new people for networking purposes and giving in to his inner child by getting down on the ice to hang out with the kids.  
  
He bumps shoulders with Nico once or twice when Nico looks too serious for his own good but knows they're going to hang out later so doesn't spend too much time obsessing over it. Holtby and Markstrom seem to shuttle Nico around like sheep dogs when Nico looks too lost, much to Travis' amusement.

They don’t have any requirements for the weekend until late afternoon tomorrow so the players band together to go out again when the Shooting Stars challenge wraps up. They forgo karaoke this time to convince the older players to come with them and proceed to get smashed. Nico seems a little more at ease halfway through the weekend- rotating through talking about god knows what with Bert in the corner, throwing darts with Hertl, and hanging off Josi's back chattering away in Swiss German. Leon seems to be attempting to follow what they're saying but failing to get most of it. Though the look of confusion could just be his resting face. Travis isn't too sure. 

Nico eventually makes his way back over to him, plopping down in the seat Barzy abandoned to go hit on a girl across the bar.

"Hi!" he says brightly. "Are you having fun?" Fun seems to be Nico's word of the weekend.

"I am," Travis laughs. "How about you?"

"Yes! I was nervous about meeting new people, especially Patty's boyfriend- but you're so nice," Nico slurs a little, vowels disappearing under his accent and making it a little hard for Travis to understand. So, admittedly, it takes Travis a minute to comprehend the actual meaning of the words. When he does, Travis is ten seconds away from rushing off to find Josi to get him to translate because, what? Travis must of misunderstood. Boyfriend?

Travis hasn't even recovered from the first bomb when Nico hurries on to drop another on Travis' whole worldview. He’s at a loss for words for once but Nico is rambling away like the floodgates have dropped.  
  
"It's so nice of you to be so nice to me when Patty is your boyfriend. Some people might be jealous that their boyfriend was still close with someone they used to hook up with. But that was so long ago!"  
  
Travis' mouth drops open and his mind goes completely blank.  
  
"Oh," Nico comments, apparently drunk enough to talk about boyfriends in public but not too wasted to miss the shocked expression on Travis' face. Nico's cheerful smile is rapidly flipping into a kicked puppy look. "Did you not know? God, fuck. I swear, it was so long ago! What the fuck, Patrick- why didn't he mention it? We were so young. You know how the draft is."  
  
Travis does know how the draft is but that's not really the important part of the story. Travis needs another drink or approximately three _ less _ drinks in his system to comprehend the whole situation. He doesn't know where to start but the most pressing question floating in his brain is,

“Boyfriends?”

"I just..." Nico is knitting his brows together. "Last year over all star break when we went on vacation together he said he didn't want to hook up anymore because he had feelings? And he talks about you so much? I just thought..?" 

“We’re not-” Travis chokes out, because it’s not like that between them, it’s never been, he’s never let himself even think about- “We’re not dating or involved at all. I’ve never- We’ve never-” Nico is looking at him very intensely, like he’s trying to read his mind through sheer force of will. Travis knows he's floundering verbally here but he can’t get the words in order in his brain let alone off of his tongue.

“We’re not boyfriends. We’re not like that,” Travis finally manages.  
  
"Oh," Nico says. He looks contemplative for a moment and Travis thinks _ that can’t possibly be all? It can’t be that easy, right? _ and then the horror sets in. "OH. Oh, god. Oh my god! Can you forget everything I've told you? Nolan is going to murder me." Nico isn't wrong per se- Nolan would cut someone for revealing less personal information about him to someone who didn’t know but Travis does know. Or at least, knew some of it, the most important part.

Travis is still at a loss for words but he knows he needs to come up with something quickly because Nico is sitting up straight, clenching his fist, looking like he’s thinking that he just accidentally dropped one of notoriously private Nolan Patrick’s most closely guarded secrets and now he’s going to have to physically fight someone over his friend's honor. His placid pose is rapidly transforming, body closing off section by section like bricks building up a wall and Travis can see in that moment why Nolan trusts this boy so much, why they’ve stayed buddies despite being drafted to different teams and spending most of the year in separate states.

Travis has to think of something fast to get Nico’s trust back. It’d be bad if anyone thought he was homophobic in general but this whole situation has the added layer of Travis letting down Nolan when he told Travis to look out for Nico. Travis can’t imagine doing that, not when Patty probably vouched for Travis to Nico, reassured Nico that Travis was a good friend. That would be the only reason why Nico would feel comfortable talking openly with Travis about something so personal to Patty.

“I knew!” Travis blurts out. “About Patty being gay. But we’re not dating! I mean, I’m bi! But, still, no dating between, uhh, us.”

Nico relaxes a little bit, slumping down in his seat.

“Oh,” he says.

“Yeah, oh,” Travis repeats, still feeling shell-shocked from the information overload. 

"I mean, me too. Being bi," Nico tells him and, like, Travis could have put that together from the whole _used to hook up with Patty _part but it's still nice to have the clarification.

"Cool, bud," he responds, because his mother did not raise him to be rude when someone came out to him.

“I think..,” Nico starts and Travis tenses at the apprehensive tone in his voice. “I think we need another round.” Travis snorts, the tense mood cracked, and Nico heads off to the bar with a wry smile. Travis uses the time alone to unwind a little. He tries to take stock of the situation. Okay, so Nico was more than just Patty’s buddy. He was someone who Patty trusted with one of his closest held secrets, someone who he felt comfortable not only talking about being gay with but getting... physical... with. That's new. Patty doesn't usually talk about his hook ups with Travis. Travis doesn't even know his type, how he acts around guys he likes...

Nico pulls Travis out of his thoughts by thumping down two glasses of ice water on the table.

“I figured maybe this would be better.” 

“You’re probably right,” Travis acknowledges, suddenly parched and knocks half the glass back. Adrenaline from learning all these new facts is still chugging pretty steadily through his veins, making him hypersensitive about everything happening- how cold the water is, how loud the bar is, the way Nico is tracing the line of his throat with his eyes. He rubs the chilly glass across his face and tries not to blush even more.

Nico grins when Travis lets out a long sigh and Travis lets himself look back at him. Which is probably mistake number one on his behalf. He takes in the crinkles around Nico's eyes, like he's permanently amused. How he fills up the chair and holds Travis' attention just sitting there. How just yesterday TK had slung his arm slung around him in the bar because, why? Because Nico felt safe to him? Because Patty felt safe with him?

“Wow,” Nico says. “And to think I was nervous about meeting you because Patty and I used to hook up.” He starts laughing. "I keep this secret for years and blurt it out the first weekend we meet. I'm sorry to put that on you."

"It's okay," Travis says. "If it makes you feel better, I can tell you that I used to hook up with Crouser in juniors all the time so I've been there." Mistake number two.

Nico looks amused at the offering, cheersing his glass Travis' way before taking a long sip. "What a weekend." He leans back in his chair when he's finished, head tipped up to the ceiling and running a hand through his hair. Travis wants to touch- both his hair and his hands. Wants to know what that feels like. Wants to be able to relate to... 

“So,” Travis says into the silence because his brain won’t let him think about anything else and he knows from experience that if he doesn’t get these words out that he’ll never be able to move on. Mistake number three incoming: “You do that often?” 

Nico’s eyebrows furrow together and he's starting to look concerned now, like he'll need to repeat the whole long saga to Travis again when he shouldn't have even said anything in the first place. “I told you," he starts slowly. "We haven't hooked up since last all star break when he called it off.” 

Travis takes another sip of his drink to gather his courage. “I didn't mean you and Patty. I meant, you and guys... Like, guys you're in competitions with...” 

Nico arches a brow and for a second Travis is worried that he's the one who crossed a line tonight. But a moment later Nico is smirking. The glimpse of his teeth in the low light of the bar flashes like a goalie’s glove, precise and dangerous, and Travis knows he's caught.

/ 

Nico disappears out front to call a cab while TK takes care of their tabs. He kind of can’t believe this is happening but now that he’s got some sort of “go ahead, this won't hurt Patty’s feelings” message from the fact that he called things off with Nico and apparently is hung up on someone else, well... Now, he can't help but clock little details about Nico that he’d been ignoring all weekend- the way his hair falls into his face, the broad spread of his back under his coat, his thick fingers when he opens the car door for Travis.

At the hotel Nico steers them to his floor and Travis is more than happy to go there, to be able to retreat back to his own room if this somehow goes sideways. 

“So how do you want to do this?” Travis asks as soon as the door shuts. He can’t help running his mouth a little normally and when he’s nervous it’s even worse.

“Either way,” Nico says. When he bends down to dig around in his bag Travis lets his eyes catch on the pull of fabric over his thighs. God, bless tailors honestly. Those stitches were really working hard. Nico pops back up with a condom and tube of lube, which he tosses on the bed. “No pressure,” he tells Travis while he finishes fiddling with the buttons on his sleeves. “I’m down to do whatever you want. Even if it's just kissing," he finishes shyly.

Nico doesn’t say anything else, just sits on the edge of his bed, shoes and shirt off, and lets Travis come to him. Travis drags his fingertips across the tops of Nico’s broad shoulders. He’s tan from his bye week adventure in the sun and Travis enjoys the goosebumps that pop up in his wake to keep the freshly bloomed freckles company. Travis hadn’t missed that Nico is at least a few inches taller than him but he appreciates that from this angle he can bring a hand up to tip Nico’s head back before dipping down to kiss him for the first time. 

It’s been so long since Travis has hooked up with a guy and he so rarely gets the chance. Plus, this is someone _ Patty _ trusted his body with. Travis feels like that’s the best possible reference.

“Open me up?” he asks and Nico nods into a kiss, starting to go to work on Travis' buttons before reaching a hand out and grabbing the lube.

It's nothing like hooking up with Crouser in juniors.

Nico's hands are gentle but firm, providing enough friction to start to drive Travis a little crazy. When Travis feels more than ready he's reaching out to shove Nico flat on his back across the bed. Before he can think twice about how a guy might take that- uhh, potentially badly he hazards to guess- Nico is laughing, soft and genuine so Travis can't get too worried that he's somehow offended him. “Bossy,” Nico comments with a grin, bringing his hands up to fit his fingers along the grooves of Travis’ ribs, delicate and precise as if he has all the time in the world. “I like it.” 

Travis gives in to the urge to trace a finger in the swirl of Nico's dimple, terribly excited when his movement only deepens the divot. Nico smiles up at him and Travis tries not to shiver at being so openly watched. He feels powerful and vulnerable all at once. Travis can feel himself blushing and uses grabbing the condom on the pillow as an excuse to hide his face, trying not to think about how Nico is probably used to guys blushing in bed if he’s hooked up with Nolan. 

Travis hurriedly slides down Nico’s body, drawing even with his hips and looking for a distraction. Nico shifts his legs to make room for Travis but doesn’t do anything else. His hands are resting across his abs, displaced when Travis shook him off to come down there. He looks less shy here, naked in bed, than he did mingling with everyone during the event earlier. But then again, Nico doesn’t have anything to be ashamed of, broad shoulders bracketing a thick chest and strong thighs along with a sweet smile to top it all off.

“You’re so hot, man,” Travis tells him, something that could be a line but comes out honest and real before he can think twice about it. Nico just laughs again, belly shaking under Travis' hands. Travis has never hooked up with anyone who laughs as much in bed as Nico and he’s kind of loving it. You have to be a certain type of chill to spend long periods of time around Patty without wanting to shrivel up in the face of his monotone. You need an internal well of being able to amuse yourself and Nico certainty has that. 

Travis should probably stop thinking about Patty so he ducks down to get his mouth on Nico. He drags his teeth along the thin skin of Nico’s hip to see what he does, satisfied by the little hiss that sneaks out from between Nico’s clenched teeth and the way his fingers flex but his hands don't stray. Travis tongues the shaft of Nico’s dick, bobs his head a few times to get him really hard before pulling back and sliding the condom down. He shuffles his way back up until he’s sitting across Nico’s lap, leaning down so their faces are close together.

"You still cool with this?" Travis asks, a soft whisper in the safe quiet created between the two of them and Nico doesn't laugh this time. He noses along Travis' cheek and travels down to press a kiss to the underside of Travis' chin- over the spot where his beard grows in a little whorl- before pulling back to nod his head. 

"Yes, I'm good if you are." His hair is spread across the pillow like a halo and Travis thinks he looks beautiful.

"Okay," Travis exhales and forgets everything else to focus on whats in front of him.

/

Travis wakes up to an empty bed and the sound of the shower running. He rolls over to check the time, blindly fumbling for his phone on the side table. Nico had produced an extra charger from his bag last night like a magician. He had waved off Travis’ furtive thanks. “_When you room with Bratter long enough you get used to carrying an extra_,” he mumbled in explanation before clicking off the lamp and sliding back under the sheets. Nico had rolled onto his stomach and stretched his arms out under his pillow but he was careful to stay on his side of the bed. Travis could feel the heat radiating off him across the inches that separated them but he couldn’t quite convince himself to move closer, even protected by the cloak of darkness. He can't help but wonder if the distance was because Nico was trying to be polite- if he's used to guys not wanting to cuddle after, if Nolan likes his space after sex so Nico assumed Travis would. Too much time passed and by the time Travis thrummed up enough courage, the breathing next to him had evened out into sleep and Travis felt too creepy to move closer when Nico wasn’t even awake. The last thought Travis had before falling asleep was that their phones were tangled closer together than they were. 

Now, when he clicks the fully charged phone in his hand awake _ Nolan _ 😜😊 _ Patrick (3) _ sits there on the screen in between notifications about messages from _ Mama _ 💕 and updates from the _ Schweizerischer Fussballverband _ app. Fuck. Nico’s phone. 

Double fuck. Nolan.

In between the karaoke and drinks and hockey, Travis had sort of forgot that the whole reason for actively befriending Nico was at Nolan’s request. And Nolan asked him because he was friends with Nico. More than friends really. Friends who used to hook up. And now Travis and Nico have hooked up, too. He’s pretty sure this is not what Nolan meant when he asked Travis to befriend Nico. 

Travis curses and picks up his actual phone as a distraction then curses again and rolls off the bed with a thump when he sees the time. He’s hurrying to get dressed- not to escape the situation but because he promised his parents he’d get breakfast with them this morning and he doesn’t want to be late- when Nico comes out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam. Despite Travis in his shoes, dress pants, and doing up what feels like the 100th button on his shirt, he still feels like Nico has the upper hand in this situation with just a hotel towel tucked around his waist. “Hey,” he nods at Travis as he heads past him over to his suitcase for a clean outfit but doesn’t make any physical contact. Travis gets distracted watching the muscles in his back flex as he’s leaning over before Travis just gives up on finishing his collar and stuffs his arms in his coat. It’s not any less distracting when Nico turns around but at least the fresh clothes in hand block some of his abs. 

“Can I get you anything?” Nico asks, the most polite way of saying _ get the fuck out _ Travis has ever heard. He’ll have to ask him later how he does that. Right now, Travis is focused on actually getting the fuck out of there before Nico does something crazy like drop his towel to pull his boxers on in front of Travis. He really can't be late or his dad will never let him hear the end of it. 

“Nah, bud. Thanks, but I got to meet my family for brunch. I’ll see you later?”

Nico nods. “For sure. Maybe we’ll be lineys?” The movement sends a drop of water cascading it's way down his collarbone, taking Travis' sanity with it. 

"Yeah, that'd be cool!" Travis responds in what he hopes isn't a squeak and then he's out the door.

It’s not until Travis is down the hallway that he realizes Nico completely bypassed him for a morning kiss. He doesn’t know if he’s relieved or disappointed. 

/

After Travis scurries back to his room, he’s too preoccupied with changing into fresh clothes and running downstairs to meet his family to check his notifications. When he does have time, he flips past all the unread messages until he finds his thread with Patty. It looks like Nico wasn't the only one Nolan had texted this morning. _u__ 2 have fun last nite? _ sits in Travis' inbox.

He did have fun last night but he has a lot of questions. He thinks about "Patty's boyfriend" and how hearing that made him feel. About the casual way Nico had mentioned "told me he had feelings" and still remained close friends with Nolan despite not hooking up anymore, how their relationship stayed strong no matter how it changed. Travis thinks about how Nico let Travis come to him, dictate how they touched. About that respectful distance Nico left between them as they were falling asleep last night but how he lent Travis a shirt to sleep in, an extra toothbrush, and a phone charger- a model of hospitality for millennials. Travis lets himself think about where Nico learned that from, if that is what Patty likes. Most importantly, Travis lets himself acknowledge that he _wants_ to know all those things and that the only way he'll get any answers is if he talks to Patty.

_yeah_, Travis types back. _tell you all about it when we get back_. 

**Author's Note:**

> TK/Nolan/Nico is my very niche ship and just TK/Nico is an extreme rare pair but the ASG finally tipped me into finishing a fic with them after waffling for literal months with other AU plots centering around the ot3. (If my muse stays with me there may be a second chapter set during the regular season that will be all three of them figuring out what the heck is going on. Nolan having feelings? TK using his feelings and brain in tandem? Nico NOT using his brain and still thinking Party In The USA is Nolan & TK's special song?)
> 
> Title from Mt. Joy's Silver Lining because they were NoPats most played Spotify artist in 2019 and I love applying silver lyrics to hockeys.
> 
> In case people don't know, Nico and Nolan did go on vacation over bye week 2019 together but we only are aware of that because an announcer casually let it slip during a Devils/Flyers game. Zero photos or social media posts. Extremely private pals but buds to this day nonetheless (as confirmed by TK during his ASG interview).
> 
> Find me on twitter at @Scoring_Chance!


End file.
